I just saw Hotel Rwanda last night.

[youthere]

Incredible.

[patrice]

1. I know.

I went in resisting it and gave up after a very short while. A very dignified performance, no bathos!

[Kraklen]

2. I thought it was fairly underwhelming, myself.

For the most part.

[bigwillq]

3. Why?

:shrug:

[Kraklen]

4. Oh, it was the typical hollywood happy ending...

Most of the movie is spent isolated from the killings...

There was a Frontline documentary that in one hour captured more of the horror than this film did.

[tjdee]

6. Well yeah, but this is about the one guy.

Not about the entire situation so much. Plus, that *is* how it ended for him.

I was underwhelmed too, LOL, but I can appreciate that they were more interested in telling the story of this one guy instead of the entire situation.

[Kraklen]

7. Yeah, Schindler's List was about one guy too.

But it captured much better the horrors of genocide.

This felt like it was more of a Jacob the Liar.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. It was a story of Paul Rusesabagina's experience, not a documentary

The documentary on Frontline was horrific-I agree. Hotel Rwanda was an account of one man during the Rwandan genocide.

[bigwillq]

10. Hollywood ending?

Didn't see one in there since it is based on a true-story.
That is how it ended for Cheadle's character and the family.

[Kraklen]

11. Yes, that's probably why they picked his story.

There were many Rusesebaginas in Rwanda. Very few of them had happy endings.

[bigwillq]

12. Probably (nt)

[Kraklen]

13. More over...

the story focuses at the end where the wife finds her neices (neighbor's kids? something else? I don't remember the music), cue happy music, drive off into the sunset. Nary a mention on all of the family they've lost.

[bigwillq]

15. They had to make it so people

would want to go see it. Sad but true. Maybe that's where your "hollywood" statement came from but I don't think that ending diminished anything from the powerful scenes that came before it.

[Kraklen]

16. Oh, I think it completely diminished it.

Yes, they dumbed it down for the American honest. A little guilt is OK, but not a lot of guilt. Don't worry, it worked out. Nevermind the Sudan.

[bigwillq]

17. The move affected many people, imo

so I think it worked. I feel many people were not aware of this situation until they saw the movie and for that, you have I say the movie was a success.

[tjdee]

5. Doesn't anyone want to fight with me about that movie?

I didn't think it was that incredible, and I wonder whether white folks are more likely to think so--or whether I'm just a desensitized loser.

I thought it was oookkkkaaayyy. I thought Don Cheadle and Sophie O. were amazing (both deserved the attention they got)--but the story itself....eh. Pretty similar to most stories about Africa/black history/etc. Bad things happen, they get worse, then it gets kind of better, than it ends.

:shrug:

[Kraklen]

9. My thoughts exactly.

[bigwillq]

14. I thought it was very informative

thought-provoking and powerful.
Made me really want to research and re-examine the events that took place in Rwanda.

[youthere]

18. It was a powerful movie for me and here's why..

Rwanda wasn't something that was "out there" in the media. It was something that was just a passing blip on most (mine included) radars. The personal story was moving, but even more so was the sense of outrage that the UN did little to help these people and our government less than nothing.
I knew our government didn't intervene in Rwanda but I was desensitized to the impact our "hands off" had. When you hear the numbers that were massacred over there, shamefully it loses meaning after a while, like a word you say too often. The movie brought me into Rwanda and put this right back in my lap. It all boiled down to one line of the movie for me. It was where the UN commander (Nick Nolte's character)was telling him why noone was helping and said "You're not even a n*gger, you're an AFRICAN." It gave me chills because that is exactly why we sat on our hands. That is why we do not intervene in Darfur.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

19. I feel that Hotel Rwanda

was a fairly good movie with a very good performance by Don Cheadle. I wasn't expecting a movie specifically about the horrors of the genocide but about one man's actions during that time. Therefore I wasn't disappointed by the movie in that way.

I do feel that if one is intrigued by the movie and don't know much about the genocide then they might go seek the Frontline doc or more information for other resources. I really don't think anyone can recreate the horror of this genocide so if Hotel Rwanda can interest people in learning more about Rwanda and hopefully maybe then the Sudan then the movie will have served some positive purpose.